Hartke 4.5XL Cabinet

I owned this cab YEARS ago. In fact, when I first became really serious about playing bass, I purchased this cab, a Hartke 215B XL cab, and a Carvin R1000 1000w head to push is all. That was a ROCKIN stack!!!

As for this cab, it is loaded with 4 Hartke 10" aluminum drivers, a 5" aluminum high frequecy driver, 400 watts of power handling at 8 ohms, and the clarity and attack to fit in just about any kind of music! Hartke is known for being a "heavy metal" amp company, but the stuff is quality, and tone is crisp and clear.

I rarely give "10" ratings because all things in life can be improved upon... With that said, I don't know how one could improve on the tone from this cab!! I played this cab in a nu-metal band at the time, but also used it in church praise & worship service, jazz trios, blues gigs, R&B shows, etc. The tone was always clear, and the attack was always well defined. The attack charactoristic produced by the aluminum cone is a harder, more percussive attack. This is great because it enhances note definition and makes the bass sound more clear. The cab provides great lows, punchy and clear mids, and crisp highs.

I never had a problem with the cab until having owned it for about 4 years. One of the drivers started to rattle a little bit, but that can happen with any speaker cab that you're pushing high watts through. I didn't contact Hartke about it because I ended up selling the cab, and the buyer was going to contact Hartke to replace the driver. However, in the 4 years that I owned the cab, worry free tone bliss!

I never contacted Hartke for repairs, but rather for tech support. I was still very new to the whole tech spec thing with amps and cabs when I purchased this cab. I called their tech support line, and the tech taught me about watts, ohms, RMS, and all of the basics of bass amps. I was very pleased with the experience.

I wish that Ampeg and Hartke would collaborate on an amp -- Ampeg tone with Hartke aluminum drivers!! That would be frickin' AWESOME!! Alas, they never will. So, no matter what head that you push this cab with, make sure that you're giving the cab 300-350 watts at 8 ohms for the best performance. If you have a 300 watts head that is only 150 watts at 8 ohms, you'll "starve" the cabinet and it WILL blow because of the lack of power pushing the speakers. When I had this cab, the R1000 head pushed 350w / side at 8 ohms, and 500w / side at 4 ohms. It that was a perfect match! Feed it, and it will perform well for you! :)

Four Hartke XL 10" Aluminum-Cone Bass Drivers, Custom Hartke 5" Aluminum-Cone High-Frequency Driver. Frequency Response: 30 Hz To 12 kHz.Power Handling: 400 Watts @ 8 Ohms

Very Punchy. I love the aluminum cone drivers. Awesome frequency response exspecially for bass.I use it for thrash and metal. Amazing sound. Perfect for heavy metal all the way to blues.

The cab has had no problems. Puts out a great deal of sound! I use it for 9 hours a week. No problems. I know a friend who has had the same cab for 11 years never anything needs to be fixed.

Haven't needed to contact them. Warranty is 2 year..?

I use it with a Warlock, amazingly punchy. Crisp highs. I havent used it for too long but I know people who have expierence. I wish I had another one to hook up to my Hartke head..

Four Hartke XL 10" Aluminum-Cone Bass Drivers, Custom Hartke 5" Aluminum-Cone High-Frequency Driver. Frequency Response: 30 Hz To 12 kHz.Power Handling: 400 Watts @ 8 Ohms

The sound is very bright and aggressive thanks to the aluminum drivers. It is a little too tight for me personally, but still has a great sound. There is a slight hiss if you turn the treble up agood deal, but that could just be the head (I'm using a Hartke 4000). Overall great sound.

This is where the cabinet has problems. After having the cabinet for six months I blew a spreaker during practice. I have now owned the cab for two years and another speaker is starting to distort. I have been playing bass for 10 years and playing shows consistantly for that whole time, so I know how to e.q. my head so that this is not a problem, and I know I wasn't overloading the cab. I would not trust this cab on the road and I'm looking for a replacement.

This company has the worst customer service I have ever dealt with. After I blew the speaker I emailed them and informed them of my situation. I told them that I thought maybe I got a bad speaker, but I was still willing to buy a new speaker (since I didn't have my warranty). They wrote me back saying that it was probably my fault and that if I wanted a new speaker I had to mail the old one in. There are two problems with that, I no longer had the speaker and if I did it would not exactly be cheap to mail that. So I wrote them back and told them that I was not going to be able to mail it to them but was willing to pay fully for a new speaker and if I needed to I would just go with another company. After this one they finally at least apologized for situation, but informed me that I could not get a new speaker without sending in the old one first. So I wrote them back and told them that I no longer had the speaker and after paying $700 (now they only cost around $400) for their cab I expected better service from them. They never responded to this email or any others I have sent them. In fact now, two years later I emailed them again a couple of days ago and they still won't respond (that is why I decided to right this). Now you might wonder why I don't just get another brand of speaker, well a lot of them I have tried out won't fit in the cab. In fact I bought a speaker for one of their cheaper transporter cabs on ebay, and it won't even fit in this cab. I wish I could give them a zero in this category.

Like I said I have played for ten years and I have never experienced this kind of poor quality or customer service (I also own a hartke 4000 bass head and I have had to repair this a dozen times). It is a shame cause the cabs sound really nice, but if you want a similiar sound pay the extra money and go with Eden. Really just go with any brand but this.